July 4, 2024
Golden State Republican Women
Janet Price, President
Submitted by the GSRW Legislative Analyst Committee
Valerie Evans, Lou Ann Flaherty and Elaine Freeman,
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!
CELEBRATE FREEDOM!
Some New California Laws Starting July 1, 2024
Hidden Fees, SB 478
Makes it illegal for businesses to advertise or list a price for a product or service that does not include all required fees or charges, excluding certain government taxes, optional features, or shipping costs.
According to the California department of Justice, the law applies to event tickets, short-term rentals such as Airbnb, hotels, restaurants, food delivery, and most sales or leases of goods and services for personal use, aiming to eliminate “junk fees” in these businesses.
Drug Testing Kits in Bars, AB 1013
Certain bars and nightclubs that exclusively sell beer, wine, and liquor must offer drug testing kits, including strips, stickers, or straws, for sale or at no cost. These kits can detect common date rape drugs such as Rohypnol and ketamine, as known as “roofies”. The business must display a sign letting patrons know that the kits are available. It applies to about 2400 bars and nightclubs across the state, where minors are not allowed, and whether or not the business serves food.
Gun Tax, AB 28
An 11% excise tax will be added to firearms and ammunition sold in the state, in addition to existing taxes. Revenue, estimated at $160M annually, will potentially fund school safety and violence prevention programs.
Keep Students in School, SB 274
It will be illegal for public schools to suspend transitional kindergarten through 12th grade students for disrupting class or defying teachers, a practice known as defiance suspensions. Teachers can remove a student form class for unruly behavior, but the youth would not be suspended. Instead, school administrators would be responsible for implementing suitable in-school interventions or support for the student.
Menstrual Products, AB 230
The new law expands the existing requirement for public schools to provide free menstrual products in restrooms, now including third through fifth grades, as well as sixth though twelfth grades, community colleges and the Cal State University system.
Right to Repair, SB 244
Manufacturers of electronics priced at $50 or above must provide documentation and spare parts or tools for repair for three years after the product’s last manufacturing date. For products priced at $100 or more, the requirement extends to seven years. The law covers cellphones, laptops, tablets, and home appliances.
Security Deposits, AB 12
Under the new law, renters in California cannot be required to provide a security deposit greater than one month’s rent, excluding the first month’s rent. A requirement change from two month’s rent for an unfurnished apartment and three month’s rent for a furnished apartment.
Workplace Violence, SB 553
This law requires employers to develop and implement workplace violence prevention plans. This includes mandatory training, incident logging, and procedures for responding to workplace violence reports.
Property Disclosures. AB 968
Requires the owner of a single-family residential property who is selling the home with 18 months of acquiring it to disclose the name of each contractor involved in any room additions, structural modifications or repairs to the property and copies of any permits that were obtained.
THE LATEST ON THE CALIFORNIA BUDGET
The Governor and both houses of the legislature came to a budget agreement, meeting the constitutional requirement by June 30. This agreement maintains the multi-year fiscal structure of the May revision, solving budget deficits not only for this budget year, but also for the fiscal year that follows 2025-26. It is important to understand that the budgets are based on estimated income so really should be looked at as a hoped-for budget.
This agreement between the Governor and the Legislature, includes a commitment to support budget resilience. Part of the agreement requires the state to set aside a portion of anticipated surplus funds to be allocated in a subsequent budget act, adding further fiscal protection so that the state does not omit certain amounts of future anticipated revenues until those revenues have been received.
As mentioned in a previous Capital Update, the budget includes a trigger to implement the healthcare worker minimum wage increases pursuant to Senate Bill 525 and statutory changes to exempt state facilities and other implementation clarifications. The increases were supposed to be given last fiscal year.
The budget has expenditures of $297.9 billion of all funds with $211.5 billion is the General Fund. There are reductions in 20 categories. These are just a few:
Reserves – the budget assumes withdrawals from the Rainy-Day Fund) over the next two fiscal years, using $5.1 billion in 2024-25 and $ 7.1 billion in 2025-26 but maintaining $22.2 billion in total reserves at the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Proposition 98 – Funds the MINIMUM guarantee at $115.3 billion ($82.6 billion from the general fund) for the budget year Pre-K-12 schools and community colleges-maintaining education programs and mitigating reduction in the classroom.
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Reductions $358 million in addition to not filling vacant positions which is estimated to bring the total to $750 million. (It should be noted that it is the goal of the State to close some prisons believing that the majority of people can be rehabilitated.)
In future articles, there will be more information about spending cuts and how the budget can be balanced. It should be noted that there is still a $45 billion deficit based on this approved budget. The implementation of the budget is done with trailer bills so these will need to be followed because many include policies, and these bills are not required to go through committees.
Governor Newsom’s State of the State = For the first time ever, the Governor did not give the State of the State address live to the Legislature. It was recorded and presented to the Legislature. It is recommended to “google” and to listen to the speech. Basically, the Governor compares California to red states and how California is run better, less crime, better environment and doing better with the homeless situation. You do not want to miss this hour of fun.
COMING SOON, COVERAGE OF NOVEMBER BALLOT MEASURES!
Secretary of State Shirley Weber Certifies Measures for the November 5, 2024, General Election Ballot
June 27, 2024, Sacramento, Calif. – Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., announced that nine measures have qualified for the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot. Four measures were placed on the ballot by the Legislature, and five qualified through the initiative process.
Legislative Portal links – Express your support or opposition to a bill or directly to the Legislative committee currently reviewing it (as an individual, not as a member of RW or GSRW) – click here, or the bill’s author – click here, enter your bill # and look for tab at top of the bill page labeled “Comments to Author”.
